Equalizer support for enameled tanks during firing



E. H. NILSON May 21', 1940.

EQUALIZER SUPPORT FOR ENAMELED TANKS DURING FIRING Filed June 18, 1937 FIG. .7.

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Patented May 21, i940 UNITED STATES EQUALIZER SUPPORT FOR. ENAMELED TANKS DURING FIRING Eric H. Nilson, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to A. 0.

Smith Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of New York Application June 18, 1937, Serial No. 148,866

3 Claims.

4 and in the ring of the vitreous enamel lining are heated to about l700 F. in a suitable furnace.

This heating and subsequent cooling of these large vessels causes expansion and contraction of the vessel wall and may also cause the vessel to twist. To permit thse movements of the vessel and thus prevent excessive stresses therein;

it is preferable to mount the vessel on specially designed supports at its four corners although intermediate supports may also be used. As disclosed in the co-pending application of William R. Kepler, Serial No. 143,109, filed May 17, 1937, the vessel is mounted on four supports. three of which are mounted on rollers to permit longitudinal and lateral movement of the vessel relative to the fourth support which is fixed. In the present application this fourth or equalizer support is the more specic subject matter. The equalizer support is provided with a limited substantially vertical movement to compensate for any twisting of the vessel or for any weaving of the transfer car due to irregularity of the track upon which the car supporting the vessel is shuttled.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal elevation of a vessel supported within a furnace for firing, the furnace being shown in section;

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the vessel as viewed from the right in Figure l;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail side elevation of the equalizer support partly in section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the equalizerv support viewed from the left in Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic plan view of the transfer car showing the arrangement of the supports thereon.

In the vitreous enameling of large tanks the inner surface of the tank I is usually sprayed with an even coating of enameling material while the furnace 2 and the transfer car 3 are heated to starting temperature. The furnace door 4 is then opened and the car 3 is drawn out of the furnace partially cool when the car is again removed from the furnace and the tank removed from the car.

So that all parts of the tank may be exposed to the hot gases in the furnace the tank is posi- 5 tioned a slight distance above the car oor by f brackets 5 at eachl corner of the tank which brackets bear upon supports 6, 1, 8 and 9 positioned on the car floor.

The supports 6, 1 and 8 are provided with rollers I0 and as shown in Fig. 5 are so angularly disposed to the stationary support 9 as to permit free expansion and contraction of the tank wall without setting up stresses therein.

To prevent any stresses in the tank due to unbalanced support caused by natural twisting of the tank or weaving of the car due to an uneven track it has been found advisable to provide at least one of the supports with means to automatically maintain a constant distribution of load on all supports. For this purpose the support 9 comprises a lever II fulcrumed on a pin I2 supported in a base I3. The short arm I4 of the lever II supports a saddle I5 while the long arm I6 is urged downwardly by weight I1 which is adjusted so that the saddle I 5 will support substantially one quarter of the weight of the tank. To maintain the saddle in vertical position it is pivotally attached adjacent its upper end to the base I3 by a link I8 as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The support 9 automatically compensates for any variance in the distance between its associated bracket 5 and the car floor and maintains the weight of the tank substantially equally distributed on all supports.

Although the equalizing support has been described in conjunction with movable supports it may be used with fixed supports. It may also be utilized for any or all of the supports especially when more than four supports are used.

Various embodiments of the invention may be employed within the scope of the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. In thesupporting of a large tank subjected to varying conditions of stability, mounting said tank on at least four supports one or more of which has incorporated therein a counterbalanced lever disposed to automatically vary the height of the support to maintain a substantially 50 constant load on each support and prevent excessive stresses in said tank.

2. In the mounting of'a long cylindrical vessel, two spaced supports at each end thereof each supporting substantially an equal weight of the 55 vessel, one of said supports having a substantially vertically moveable saddle supported by a lever which is counter-balanced to maintain a constant distribution of load on the supports.

3. In the firing of the vitreous enamel lining of a long cylindrical vessel mounted on four spaced supports on a fixed base Within a furnace, at least one of said supports comprising a lever fulcrumed thereon, a substantially vertically movable saddle engaged by one arm of the lever for supporting a portion of the vessel and a counter-weight on the other arm to balance the Weight of the vessel on the rst arm and to automatically compensate for any relative vertical movement of said vessel and said base to maintain the load on said support substantially constant.

ERIC H. NILSON. 

